The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-02-18
.LEND A HAND.

II. ~ WI, know. 90 hunger and cold and
sickness Sisters al Charity, church
missionaFies. physicians. and individ-
uais. who go out TO meet and help the
poor, are almost overwhelmed with the
work that needs 10 DO done. and the
comparatively small anount each per-
son can do. Work as | may, from
morning until night, | cannot begin to
help one half the suffering / see. says
one. Another makes moan. "Al can
possibly do is mere drop in the
bucket TO what needs To be done.
This feeling Is Amos. unavoidable; but
the consolation must come in this form.
No one can or sloul curry the whole
burden Of misery upon hts shoulders.
either to know or TO relieve There Is
much Of suffering That must exist and
must be borne without relief But
every little bit of comfort. or help, or
encouragement or strength each one OF
Us can give, puts just so much of bright
ness into the world--aye, doubly so, for
we both give and receive brightness in
the doing of these things.
Few OF US can make a profession OF
charity work. Uther duties claim US,
especially il We have homes in which
We must not only oversee. but do a
large portion OF the work. Yet all OF
US can lend hand. now and then. to
help another from discomfort to com.
fort The object of this article is TO tell
housekeepers few OF The practical
things that specially lie in their pro
vince. First of all the matter OF cloth.
ing. In the springtime, when winter
clothing is laid aside. carefully Gull out
all that which is worn too much 10 be
used in your family again. or is out
grown or faded. Put II in pile and
BY degrees mend it A strong patch Of
another color is no detriment to gar
menL so il makes il whole and wear
able. Good buttons that can be used
again upon nice dress. may be cut of.
but be sure and sewtothers on. Did
you ever realize of bow little value .
dress without buttons would be to q
poor woman who bad no buttons in the
house and not penny to buy the cheap.
est sort withp IL is not bad plan &c
set children or servants at this poor
mending, under our supervision. Patch
all holes and thin places. DO not be
afraid of too much patching, so it be
neatly done Hardly any garment that
is considered past wear in well-to-doI
family is too far gone to be- used again
il we'll mended. ] wish could go into
hundreds OF houses and beg their heads
not 10 throw away even the badly worn
garments especially flannel shirts and
drawers II you could know how small
u proportion OF our poor have such gar
ments on them, you would patch, and
think your time well spent
Too much stress caunot be put upon
the injunction to have all your ':poor"
garments mendcd. A whole sermom
could be written upon it, with firstly,
economy; secondly, thrift; thirdly, ex.
ample; fOurthly, inducement TO the poor
TO continue the care OF Il garment; and
filthy, such fine showing of the strong
moral influence it would have, rs TO
justify the whole sermon.
fOrbesr now; some day may give
it TO you.
To continue: put all those garments,
all half-worn shoes, all faded or worn
and mended stockings, all hoods and
caps, all flannel skirts made out of all
the pieces of flannel in your piece bag.
even if TWO or more colors get into one
skirt and anything else you can think
OF, into q large drawer or barrel with
good sprinkling of camphor or tobacco.
You will be surprised 10 see how it fills
up, before GOLD weather comes.
In the fall when summer things are
laid aside, do the same with those, al.
though it is less important than the
winter clothing work, Next, what shall
you do with those thingsP | feel very
much like telling YOU not 10 distribute
them yourself. unless you are very sure
just what you are doing, Above ali
things never give them TO people who
come begging TO your door. 1t rarely
safe, and such things can do too valu-
able good in the right DIRECTIONS to be
wasted in the wrong ones,
There are in every city charity and
relief societies, who care for the worthy
poor, investigate carefully every case.
know particular wants. and have the
means of gaining information respect
ing the poor that private families do not
have. They are safe distributors for
your clothing.
Failing those, you can do no better
than carry them to public school in
some poor district and any teacher can
tell you OF some needy. worthy, half
clothed child or its mother who viii
bless you for your provision.
In former article spoke of the saw
ing OF cotton aud linen cloth for hos.
pitfalls. There is yet another thing that
hospitals are greatly in need of, and
that is canned fruits and jellies. Go 10
some poor hospital in the early summer,
tell the matron to send you dozen
empty Mason jars, which she is sure to
have (empty) and dozen cups; then.
as you can fruit or make jelly from
time to time during summer and autumn
fill jar or cup with fruit. When
winter comes, send it over to the sick.
1t will cost you little in money, upon
the whole, aud add very little to your
labor, but so much 10 your pleasure
when you realize what large slice of
comfort you have sent out to the
''chsrity patients" in that struggling
hospital
The empty cans that you fill in your
own house during the winter, with
apple sauce. to use after apples are
gone, will each hold quart of grateful
bAAknOSs AOE In0 5tckS uuT1uS Tue coming
summer, if you remember to send some
Of them to this same hospital.
Tiny fancy cups or glasses, whole OF
cracked, well filled with Jelly will
hold an amount of happiness for some
sick, poor child all out of proportion to
their size. and the ease with which you
filled them from the last scraping of
your jelly kettle.
How do wish every housekeepeI
would try just once this sort of pleasure
giving. No one would need to tell her
to doit again.
LEND hand" 1t sounds little
enough to do; but it means some one
kept from calling. some one helped up
that has fallen, some burden carried
bravely to the end that otherwise would
have broken the bearers strength if not
her heart "a ray of sunshine in dark
place" courage reused to enable one
to ''begin again" and, [ohl how true 1t
is the returning flood of sunshine on
the one whose hand stretched out
Once more:sLend ahand. "-JaniGtG
Stafford, ia Good Housekeeping.